MyGolfSpy Insider Podcast Episode 3: The Best Year for Drivers Ever?

Will 2019 be the best year for drivers ever?

We think so. Golfers in the market for a new driver will have more choices than ever and that’s exciting. In the golf industry, however, nobody is up without somebody else going down. Which brands are poised to gain ground in the market and which risk dipping a bit?

Keeping it in-house for this episode, MyGolfSpy owner, Adam Beach, and Editor, Tony Covey, discuss how the market is shaping up and make their predictions for a 2019 Most Wanted Winner.

Have a listen.

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Ways to Lower Energy Bills during Fall

It may not be as cold as it could get in winter yet, but now’s the perfect time to start drilling down the habit of saving electricity when you can. Prepare a list of things you should do before winter fully sets in and don’t forget to include the following:

Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

Don’t bother heating rooms that aren’t in use

If you have rooms that you never use, like guest rooms or large storage areas, close and seal off the vents in those rooms to be more energy efficient and direct the flow of air to the rooms you use most. Energy bills run, on average, $183 per month. By using a space heater in the rooms where you need it and setting the thermostat to 62 degrees, you can save approximately $200 each year. Source: Money.USNews

Insulate the attic

Cover up the attic entry with plastic, pieces of insulation, old blankets, weather stripping, saran wrap, painter drop cloth, or even a few old shirts. Any of it will help to slow, if not, stop, the drafts and warm air from floating away through your roof. Heat rises and may be getting pulled right up through the attic so you may not notice a cold draft even though your expensive hot air is floating away. Source: TheBalance

Adjust the thermostat

A couple degrees cooler when you’re away or asleep can make a big difference on your heating bill (without any sacrifice from you).

Tip: Get a programmable thermostat, and let it make the adjustments for you. Source: TheSpruce

Switch to a tankless water heater

Considering water heating costs account for 11 percent of your utility bills, switching out your water heater can drastically cut energy bills, according to This Old House. Consider gas and solar options, many of which are tankless to maximize efficiency.

“Traditional water heaters maintain a full tank of warm water, which requires constant energy to keep warm,” said Than Merrill, founder and CEO of the real estate investment education company FortuneBuilders. “Tankless water heaters, on the other hand, only heat water on demand. That way, you do not have the extra energy consumption occurring when hot water is not being used.” Source: Time

Carpet can provide good insulation for your floors, especially if you choose the thicker type with underlay. Give us a call and we can help you pick a carpet that would be perfect for your home all year-round.

The post Ways to Lower Energy Bills during Fall appeared first on Curlys Carpet Repair.

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First Look: Wilson Staff Prototype Blade

Credit to Golf.com‘s Jonathan Wall for being the first to spot what appears to be new Wilson Prototype blades in Gary Woodland’s bag in the Bahamas.

Gary Woodland was spotted with a set of unreleased @WilsonGolf prototype blades in the Bahamas. 👀 https://t.co/59n8rVAxwY pic.twitter.com/tg2RDe92DS

— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) November 27, 2018

Whoah…

A few hours later, Wilson Staff tour pro Brendan Steele posted a Tweet of his own on the new irons, noting that he was part of the design team. The cat is officially out of the bag.

So new blades and Gary Woodland? What in the name of Gene Sarazen is going on here?

Blade Prototypes

Wilson’s current blade, the FG Tour 100, was released in 2014 as part of Wilson Staff’s 100th anniversary as a golf brand. This new prototype features a few similarities to the Tour 100, including the same bore-through hosel, but the muscle back is a little simpler looking and it appears to be more toe-weighted. We’ve reached out to Wilson for more information, and the company confirms they’ve been waiting for a chance to test the new prototypes with its Tour staff, specifically Brendan Steele.

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It’s shaping up to be a busy fall for Wilson Staff. We’ve been through Driver vs. Driver, and the introduction of Cortex, and a replacement for the two-year-old D300 irons and metalwoods is due by January. Wilson’s FG Tour V6 irons are also two years old, and considering Wilson’s two-year product cycle, MyGolfSpy’s 2017 Most Wanted Player’s Iron is also due for an upgrade.

The other part of the story, however, is what’s up with Gary Woodland?

Partial Free Agent

According to Wall’s article, Woodland is an equipment free-agent, sort of. After leaving Callaway at the end of 2015, he signed a metal-woods only deal with TaylorMade and has been using Titleist irons and wedges without a deal. Woodland will apparently be gaming the new Wilson blades, as well as a Wilson FG Tour V4 utility iron, at this week’s Hero World Challenge.

For its part, Wilson says Woodland expressed some interest in a new blade, and the company was happy to supply him with product – as they would for any Tour player – for personal testing and evaluation. The fact Woodland is putting the irons in play this week in the Bahamas indicates a level of interest a few steps beyond “personal testing.”

The three-time PGA tour winner is currently 32nd in the Official World Golf Rankings, and it remains to be seen if this week represents an equipment trial on his part or a prelude to a new equipment deal with Wilson Staff. If that were to happen, Woodland would be Wilson’s highest ranking Tour pro. Brendan Steele, Kevin Streelman and Padraig Harrington are currently ranked 103rd, 176th, and 187th respectively.

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The Mindset Game: 7 Lessons for Every Entrepreneur

I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last five years, during which we’ve bootstrapped our innovation management software company Viima to a good number of happy customers, including some from the Global Fortune 500, and achieved a solid growth rate. I’ve also followed the entrepreneurial journeys of a number of friends and acquaintances up close during these last few years.

While we’ve all had our fair share of challenges along the way, the most common, the most difficult, and the most frustrating ones always seem to be related to the way you and others on your team think.

Why your mindset matters more than you think

As long as you have a solid team in place, most practical challenges are often actually surprisingly straightforward to solve.

Do you need to acquire more leads? Build a new and improved version of your product? Perhaps sell more or optimize your cash flow?

All of these take work, and perhaps a bit of ingenuity here and there. However, there’s tons of information and guidance out there to help you achieve your goals.

On the other hand, there are some mental factors that can impact your success as an entrepreneur—but that’s much less talked about.

Starting from scratch and being responsible for everything is an incredibly humbling experience. It can feel overwhelming at times and there’s guaranteed to be plenty of times when you feel like giving up. And without the right mindset, you surely will.

What’s more, once your team grows, people will be looking to you, as the founder, for example on how to behave. Whether you want it or not, the mindset you have and the way you behave will largely determine the culture of your company, both for the better and for the worse.

As such, if you know yourself and are capable of managing your mindset and the behavior that results from it, you have the keys to mastering your own destiny.

7 lessons for mastering your mindset game

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to study the topic during my master’s degree studies, as well as talk to a number of successful entrepreneurs at the beginning of my journey. Even so, as a first-time entrepreneur, I’ve had to learn many of the following lessons the hard way.

I’ll now share my thoughts and experiences so that you’ll hopefully be able to avoid many of the mistakes I, and many others before me, have made.

1. You can’t survive without a growth mindset

Our entire founding team was made up of first-time entrepreneurs. We knew we had no chance but to learn all the skills it would take to create and run a successful software business.

While we certainly did know a thing or two about software and business, it was still quite evident that there was way more we didn’t know. What’s more, we didn’t really have the resources to hire outside help to do things for us.

Since we knew what we needed to accomplish, we just had to figure out ways to accomplish those things by ourselves. This, fortunately, forced us to adopt a growth mindset and we gradually taught ourselves the skills we needed, such as marketing, design, and finance. The list just goes on.

If we’d simply stayed in our comfort zone and would’ve thought that “I’m just not that good at X, it’s best to leave it for those who are more gifted,” we likely would’ve never made it past our first year in business.

As our team has grown, we’ve also introduced a systematic framework that every employee follows to help them constantly get better at their work.

2. Ego is always your biggest enemy

Quite recently I read “Ego Is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday. It’s a brilliantly written book that put into words many of the most common challenges people seem to have in business, and life in general.

We suffer from a huge number of cognitive biases, that affect the way we think unless we question our initial thoughts. For example, one study after another has confirmed the bias for illusory superiority by confirming that people tend to rate themselves as above average 90 percent of the time, which clearly can’t be true. An untamed ego hampers our ability to learn and develop, as well as clouds and impairs our judgment.

If you take the time to reflect and truly know yourself and battle vanity, you can avoid doing all the wrong things for the wrong reasons, which in turn allows you to focus on the big picture. While most certainly important for everyone, this is especially crucial for leaders and entrepreneurs.

3. Be brutally honest and realistic—both with yourself and your team

As an entrepreneur, you’re most likely spending a lot of time trying to convince others to believe in your vision, be they prospects, investors, or team members. It’s just a natural part of the job.

However, by repeating the same stories enough times, you can easily end up convincing yourself too, even if the vision you’re communicating wouldn’t be anywhere near a reality. And that’s a problem.

While you most certainly have to believe in your ability to achieve that vision and deliver on those promises, you and the rest of the team also have to be realistic about, and critical of, the progress you make in order to have a decent shot at actually achieving those goals.

I’ve too often seen founders and other leaders start living too much in a world filled with visions and strategies while detaching themselves from the real world. If this happens, the company is virtually guaranteed to fail to achieve those visions and strategic goals. Startups are, after all, primarily an execution game.

4. Have a company-first mindset and be transparent about it

It’s generally accepted that the purpose of a company is to generate profit.

As a founder, there will most certainly be times when your, or someone else’s, best interests and those of the company will be opposed to each other. Usually, these are quite minor, often times even insignificant occasions.

In these situations, it can at times be tempting to rationalize to yourself that by putting your own interests first, the company will also benefit, when in reality this is never optimal for the company. These situations often form a slippery slope where the effects can eventually start to cumulate.

However, the real problem isn’t even financial, it’s about the culture. This kind of behavior is likely to spread and once that happens, you’re no longer a team where each member is willing to make sacrifices for the greater good, but are more like a ragtag group of bandits out in it for themselves.

So, in these situations, you always need to make the rational long-term decision of putting the company first. In practice, this means that for every decision you make, you should be able to, clearly, rationally and without ambiguity, establish how that decision will help the company’s business in the long run.

If you do this, you shouldn’t have any qualms about being transparent with the employees about the decisions being made. Transparency enables everyone to be on the same page and empowers employees to make the same kind of company-first decisions themselves, setting you up for long-term success.

5. People look to you for example—and usually focus on the parts you wouldn’t like them to focus on

As a leader, but especially as the founder of a company, people look up to you for example, whether you like it or not. Leading by example is very much a cliché, but it really does matter.

If you’re emphasizing the importance of working hard but are always the first one to leave the office to play tennis, why would your employees stay any longer?

If you’re rooting your team to come up with new ideas and innovate, but keep shooting down all the ideas they come up with, how long do you think they’re going to continue that?

If you’re always telling people how important quality is but are cutting corners and being sloppy yourself, where do you think your employees will then draw the line of “good enough”?

You can certainly argue that after years of hard work that got the company to where it is, you would have earned the right to take certain freedoms for yourself.

However, as the company and team grows, your example becomes even more important.

If you’re no longer willing to put in the hours or live up to your own standards, it sends a strong message for your team and will without a doubt affect the way they behave, undermining much of what you’ve spent years building.

6. Owners need to have a shared set of values and expectations

When you’re first setting up the company, probably the single biggest mistake you can make is to choose the wrong co-founders.

I’ve been fortunate to be a part of a great founding team where our values and expectations for the future have been very much in sync since the beginning, which has made things easy for us, even during some of the tough times we’ve had.

However, I’ve seen companies where this most certainly hasn’t been the case.

If one founder is simply passionate about the idea that they’re working on, one is looking to learn as much as possible, and the third is just looking for a nice exit in the very near future, the team is almost guaranteed to break apart as soon as they hit a speed bump that forces them to make significant changes to their initial shared vision.

This is why values and expectations matter; they change infrequently, but still underlie virtually every major decision you make. As long as your values and expectations are aligned, it’s easy to simply change direction and pick the option that makes the most sense at the time.

There is a plethora of different motivations for becoming an entrepreneur, but you’re much more likely to persist and stay in the game long enough to succeed if you’re motivated by things other than simply money, such as learning or making an impact with your business.

7. It’s important to find ways to be optimistic and positive

If you’re a would-be entrepreneur but haven’t taken the leap yet, you might be slightly intimidated by some of these lessons, and you should. Being an entrepreneur most certainly isn’t easy, and more than 90 percent will fail.

However, at the same time, it can be incredibly rewarding. Building something from nothing that can make the world a better place, offer people meaningful jobs, and learning to do whatever it takes to get there is an experience that I most certainly wouldn’t change for anything.

These aspects, along with the great culture and atmosphere we have with our team, have kept us going even when things haven’t always gone according to our plans.

So, while you must be very critical of yourself and realistic in your planning, you should also find ways to be optimistic about your future and have a positive outlook on life. This will help you get through the tough times on your entrepreneurial journey.

Additional resources

Even though I’ve learned the importance of these lessons and am certainly trying my best to follow them, it doesn’t mean that I’d always be able to do so.

Self-reflection is an essential part of the process of getting better and I’ve found reading to be a tremendously helpful tool for that.

A regular reading habit helps widen my perspective, allows me to keep learning, and provides me with a great way to reflect on the journey.

Here are a few books that I recommend you read if you’d like to learn more about some of the themes we’ve discussed in this article:

• Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron
• Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday

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5 Things to Compare When Choosing an eCommerce Platform

Owning and operating a successful ecommerce business is a dream for many.

You can sell products and services online without fancy face-to-face sales pitches, you don’t have to rent out an expensive physical storefront, and best of all, you can make sales while you sleep!

Who wouldn’t want to start a business like that?

The reality of ecommerce is that it’s relatively easy to get a store up and running. However, operating a successful store is a whole different ball game. This is a realization that many, many people have learned the hard way.

Ecommerce is the future of retail. In fact, it’s estimated that online sales will hit $4.8 by 2021!

Source.

Building successful ecommerce businesses starts with the right platform. In this article, I’ll discuss five of the top components to consider when you are shopping around.

1. SEO benefits

Plain and simple, if you want to enter any aspect of the online business world, you are going to need a surface level understanding of search engine optimization—at the very least.

What is SEO? To put it simply, it’s everything that goes into making sure your site is visible to search engines like Google.

Over 90 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. The way your online store is optimized for search has a direct impact on how people discover your website and find what they are looking for.

Now, SEO for an ecommerce website requires a great deal of due diligence by the site owner, regardless of the platform. This involves persistent keyword research, attention to link building, the creation of fresh, keyword-optimized content, SEO-friendly product pages, title tags, image tags, and so on.

When you’re choosing your ecommerce platform, take a step back and assess your SEO needs, your own skills in web development, and how you see your store in the future. If you are entering the world of ecommerce with entry-level knowledge, there are a handful of SEO features you need to understand.

Navigation links: The text that appears for your products and categories within the navigation menu of the website.

These links bring shoppers to the product listings. While many platforms generate these automatically, having independent control over these links is ideal for SEO purposes.

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Page titles: The titles that are shown on the tabs in the browser. These tabs give you the opportunity to include trending search terms identified in your keyword research.

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Page URLs: The words present in an actual link in the browser. The URL should give people a good idea of what the page is all about.

The proper use of keywords here gives you a great SEO advantage—both in the eyes of the search engines and the users.

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Meta descriptions: This is the short paragraph that appears under your link in the Google search engine results.

This acts as a preview of the page. As you could imagine, it is a hotspot for keywords.

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Image ALT tags: This tag refers to the text on an image that acts as a description for the search engine crawlers.

The keyword optimization here determines how the picture shows up on a Google Image search.

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H1 headings: This is the main heading that appears on a product listing or category.

If these headings are optimized around trending keywords, it will be much easier for people to discover your site.

Source.

Canonical URLs: In an ecommerce site, it’s common that some products can be found in multiple locations throughout the catalog. When this is the case, you do not want to get penalized by Google for having duplicate content.

So, you can tag your pages with the ‘REL CANONICAL’ tag that tells Google which page should be viewed as the primary, which is known as the canonical URL.

Blogging: Blogging is one of the best ways to give your ecommerce site fresh, keyword-optimized content. Plus your blog posts give you content assets that can be used for link building.

On a basic level, the ecommerce platform you choose should include a blogging feature.

Social buttons: The search engines love sharable content.

Adding social buttons on your product pages, blog posts, or anything else on your site makes it easy for people to share it with their social networks, which in turn, boosts your SEO value.

Source.

XML sitemap: This is a file located on your website that helps the search engines index your website’s content. Maintaining your XML sitemap is crucial to your search rankings. If you have a larger catalog, you definitely want an ecommerce platform that manages this for you automatically.

These terms cover the basic elements of an ecommerce website. There are lots of platforms out there designed to make search engine optimization easier.

Source.

If you are just starting out with minimal background knowledge, mainstream platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce are a few options.

2. Payment options

The most critical part of the online sales process is payment. When you start an ecommerce business, you need to be able to accommodate a range of payment options.

Think of it this way: How often have you walked into a restaurant or diner only to be turned away because you don’t have cash on you? If you only take a select few types of credit cards or other payment options on your ecommerce site, you will end up turning potential customers away.

In recent years, the scope of payment options has grown quite a bit in the ecommerce landscape. The name of the game here is simplicity. Very few people (if any) particularly enjoy pulling out their cards, entering in their 16-digit number, expiration date, and CVV code whenever they make a purchase online. In addition to being a hassle, it gives them plenty of time to reconsider their decision to buy.

There are a number of ways you can alleviate friction. For starters, shoppers should have the ability to create an account on your website. Not only is this good practice for gaining email addresses and information, but it should also ideally enable the shopper to save their credit card information for future use. At this point, this should be one of the foundational capabilities of any ecommerce platform.

However, the most important thing here is security. Be sure the platform you choose uses SSL encryption. When a shopper sees the green lock on the URL in the browser, they know the site is safe.

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In addition to credit/debit cards, your ecommerce site should accept quick and painless options like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.

Lastly, if you paid attention to the news in the past year or so, you’ve probably heard something about cryptocurrency. As there are all kinds of benefits attached to paying with crypto (and not to mention a huge interest in it), looking into a platform that accepts this option is a smart move.

3. End-user experience

Ultimately, the end-user experience (UX) is the most important piece of the puzzle in creating a killer ecommerce site. If the checkout process is complicated, the navigation is shoddy, the product information is tough to find, and so on, people will have no problem finding the X button.

That said, a good UX needs to be your top concern when shopping around for ecommerce platforms.

This involves the following major aspects:

Utility: This concerns the very nature of your website, product listings, layout, and overall flow. Most importantly, this entails making sure every facet of your website makes it easy for shoppers to find what they need.

The ecommerce platform you select should enable you to provide users with easy access to menus, categories, customer support, and more. It should also include features like a search bar with keyword relevant suggestions.

Source.

Always remember, even the prettiest website in the world can be rendered useless if it doesn’t have the utilities needed to provide a good UX.

Usability: The usability of a website refers to how well visitors can grasp and navigate through it.

Keep in mind, today’s online shoppers are not exactly known for their patience. This is because they can simply turn to thousands of others if yours is too complicated to figure out.

A website’s usability is dependent on simplicity. There shouldn’t be any unnecessary clicks, slow loading times, or extra steps in the sales process, as these can quickly complicate things.

Accessibility: Perhaps the biggest advantage of ecommerce is operations are not limited by geographic location, time zones, or anything else of that nature. An ecommerce business can sell products all over the world.

That being said, you need a platform that understands this and can properly cater and alter the website to different demographics. This includes automatically adjusting the online storefront around location, language, currency, shipping information, and so on.

Versatility here is crucial for reaching more shoppers—and more shoppers equals more sales.

Desirability: Desirability in the UX is all about the appeal and making people want to return.

The feel of your online store should be such that it gives shoppers a welcoming vibe, as well as leave a good taste in their mouth when they leave.

Fortunately, many of the big ecommerce platforms out there have large selections of themes and customizable templates created by seasoned experts. These are designed to play to many of the common psychological triggers that keep customers coming back.

The end-user experience is the most important part of an ecommerce store and must remain at the forefront of your platform selection process.

4. IT support

Solid IT support tends to be one of the unsung heroes when it comes to the features of an ecommerce platform. Many of these platforms will try to sell you on everything being overly user-friendly to a point where you don’t think IT support is a big factor.

If your site goes down, you need answers right away.

When you are making your choice, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to support. If you go with one of the bigger platforms, there will be a large support community to help find quick answers, which is why many people go with ecommerce giants like Shopify or WooCommerce.

Next, you need to take into account the size and complexity of your store. If it’s more extensive, you are going to need a platform with dedicated support to help you whenever something goes wrong.

Another thing to consider is working with an agency for IT support. If you don’t have a firm knowledge of backend website management, having an agency specialized in ecommerce IT support is a very wise choice. Many agencies are well-versed in the major ecommerce platforms and will proactively keep a close eye on your website to eliminate issues before they turn into problems.

Prolonged technical difficulties will eat into your revenue and turn people away in droves. At the end of the day, IT support determines the life or death of an ecommerce store.

5. Integrations and add-ons

The integration capabilities of an ecommerce platform are what allow you to customize the site around what you need and what will benefit the overall experience.

You need to take into account how far-reaching and in-depth your online store currently is, as well as what your short and long-term goals are.

For instance, if you are just starting out, an email marketing program might not seem like an essential. However, once you start gaining traction, email will be a prime communication avenue to promote things like personalized deals, product recommendations, or anything else to boost site engagement.

Regardless of the ecommerce site, the platform you choose should have these crucial integrations:

Analytics: This should include the proper reporting capability to help you gauge your traffic numbers, ranking keywords, traffic sources, and how people are interacting with your website.

Additionally, you need monetary analytics that show your revenue reports, sales volume, and all other POS data.

Source.

Payment options: To reiterate, you need a platform that has the integrations to accept a diverse number of payment options.

Marketing: This includes capabilities for things like email campaigns, social, remarketing, personalization, automation, and so on.

Loyalty: If you plan on competing in your niche, you need to have some sort of loyalty program in place. This gives people a good reason to return to your website.

It could include options for a point-based system, recurring purchase rewards, or anything else that helps gain repeat customers.

Sales funnel: The sales funnel refers to the steps people take on their way to a purchase.

In the ecommerce world, this involves integrations for things like cross-sells, upsells, conversion optimization, and more. One of the hot button items on this list of integrations is chatbots.

Review management: Everyone and their grandparents knows how important customer reviews are in purchasing decisions.

That said, having a good customer review management integration is one of the most powerful weapons in your ecommerce store. From an SEO perspective, the review management system you integrate should be a verified Google Review Partner.

Keep in mind, there are certainly more valuable integrations and add-ons that go beyond this list. However, these six need to be at the top of your list when comparing platforms.

Over to you

The world of ecommerce is a diverse, complex, and constantly-changing entity. The platform you choose to represent your online business is the most important factor that determines your long-term success.

There are lots of options out there that offer a lot of great things. However, even though your needs may gravitate to a certain selection, be sure you keep these five major components in mind. Do not make your decision lightly.

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2018 MOST WANTED SUPER GAME IMPROVEMENT IRON

How to Get Funding for a Business

Most healthy businesses need business financing at some point. Startups have to deal with starting costs and ongoing businesses have to finance growth and working capital.

Deciding to take on some kind of debt is quite common. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at the big picture, and then talk through options for funding.

Financing options depend on what kind of business you have. Its age, position, performance, market opportunities, team, and so forth are very important. So you should tailor your funding search and your approach. Don’t waste your time looking for the wrong kind of financing.

Understand the general realities of getting funded

Let’s start with a quick reality check. Like so many things in business, a lot about business financing depends on your specific details. Realities go case by case, depending on the growth stage, resources, and other factors.  

Are you a startup or ongoing business?

The outlook for funding depends a great deal on the specifics of the business.

For example, many ongoing businesses have access to standard business loans from a traditional bank that would not be available to startups. Also, high-tech high-growth startups have access to investment funding that would not be available to stable, established businesses that show only slow growth.

Small business financing myths

Before we get into the most viable options for start-ups and established businesses, let’s dispel some popular funding myths, just so we can get them out of the way. Don’t get discouraged at this point. Better to deal with realities that you can work with rather than myths you can’t.

Myth #1: Venture capital is a growing opportunity for funding businesses

Actually, venture capital financing is very rare. I’ll explain this more later, but assume that only a very few high-growth companies with high-power management teams are venture opportunities.

Myth #2: Bank loans are the most likely option for funding a new business

Actually, banks don’t finance business startups. I’ll have more on that later, too. Banks aren’t supposed to invest depositors’ money in new businesses.

Myth #3: Business plans sell investors

Actually, they don’t.

A well-written and convincing business plan (and pitch) presents your business to investors in detail; but they are investing in your business, not just a plan.

Normally you have to have a team in place, have made progress toward idea validation, or—better still—traction (paying customers). So you do a lot of work before you get investors.

Nobody invests in ideas or plans. The rare exception is a special case, in which investors know an entrepreneur well and are ready to invest in them at an early stage. In that case, they are investing in the entrepreneur, not the plan.  

The role of the business plan

I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a business plan. You should.

Your business plan is an essential piece of the funding puzzle, explaining exactly how much money you need, and where it’s going to go, and how long it will take you to earn it back.

Investors will look first to a summary, and then a pitch; but if you get through that screening, they’ll want to see a business plan for the process of due diligence. And even before that, during the early stages, they’ll expect you to have a business plan in the background, for your own use.

Most commercial banks require a business plan as part of a loan application. A plan is also required for applying for a business loan guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Everyone you talk to is going to expect you to have a business plan available. They may not start their discussions with you by looking at the plan, but don’t get caught without one when they ask to see it.

Where to look for money

The process of looking for money must match the needs of the company. Where you look for money, and how you look for money, depends on your company and the kind of money you need. There is an enormous difference, for example, between a high-growth internet-related company looking for second-round venture funding and a local retail store looking to finance a second location.

In the following sections of this article, I’ll talk more specifically about six different types of investment and lending available, to help you get your business funded.

1. Venture capital

The business of venture capital is frequently misunderstood. Many startup companies complain about venture capital companies for failing to invest in new ventures or risky ventures.

People talk about venture capitalists as sharks, because of their supposedly predatory business practices, or sheep, because they supposedly think like a flock, all wanting the same kinds of deals.

This is not the case. The venture capital business is just that—a business. The people we call venture capitalists are business people who are charged with investing other people’s money. They have a professional responsibility to reduce risk as much as possible. They should not take more risk than is absolutely necessary to produce the risk/return ratios that the sources of their capital ask of them.

Venture capital shouldn’t be thought of as a source of funding for any but a very few exceptional startup businesses. Venture capital can’t afford to invest in startups unless there is a rare combination of product opportunity, market opportunity, and proven management.

Venture capital professionals look for businesses that they believe could produce a huge increase in business value within just a few years. They know that most of these high-risk ventures fail, so the winners have to win big enough to pay for all the losers.

They focus on newer products and markets that can reasonably project increasing sales by huge multiples over a short period of time. They try to work only with proven management teams who have dealt with successful startups in the past.

If you are a potential venture capital investment, you probably know it already. You have management team members who have been through that already. You can convince yourself and a room full of intelligent people that your company can grow ten times over in three years.

If you have to ask whether your new company is a possible venture capital opportunity, it probably isn’t. People in new growth industries, multimedia communications, biotechnology, or the far reaches of high-technology products, generally know about venture capital and venture capital opportunities.

If you are looking for names and addresses of venture capitalists, start with the internet.

The names and addresses of venture capitalists are also available in a couple of annual directories:

• The Western Association of Venture Capitalists publishes an annual directory. This organization includes most of the California venture capitalists based in Menlo Park, CA, which is the headquarters of an amazing percentage of the nation’s venture capital companies.
• Pratt’s Guide to Venture Capital Sources is an annual directory available online or in print format.

2. Angel investment

We started with venture capital first in this article because the phrase is more common, and some people think of all outside investment in high-growth startups as venture capital.

However, the reality is that what we call angel investment is much more common than venture capital, and usually is much more available to startups, and at earlier growth stages too.

Although angel investment is a lot like venture capital (and is often confused with it), there are important distinctions. First, angel investors are groups or individuals who invest their own money. Second, angel investors tend to invest in companies at earlier stages of growth, while venture capital typically waits until after a few years of growth, after startups have more history.

Many people use the term “venture capital” to apply to any investors who invest in high-growth startups. In fact, angel investment in startups is much more common than venture capital, especially at the earlier growth stages. Businesses that land venture capital typically do so as they grow and mature after having started with angel investment first.

Like venture capitalists, angel investors normally focus on high-growth companies at early stages of development. Don’t think of them for funding for established, stable, low-growth businesses.

Your next question, of course, is how to find the “angels” that might want to invest in your business. Some government agencies, business development centers, business incubators, and similar organizations will be tied into the investment communities in your area. Turn first to your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is most likely associated with your local community college.

You can also post your business plan on websites that bring angel investors together. The two most reputable sites in this area are:

• Gust Angel Network
• AngelList

You should also be aware that angel investment was affected by the 2012 JOBS Act that loosened some restrictions and allowed what we now call crowdfunding.

Traditionally, angel investment was limited by U.S. securities and exchange regulations to individuals meeting some minimum wealth requirements, called “accredited investors” in the legal wording. Crowdfunding is the accepted term for individual investment in startups by people who don’t meet the legal wealth requirements.

Under certain conditions, startups and even non-high-growth small business can solicit investment from a wider range of investors. Details are still fuzzy on a lot of this, so, when in doubt, check with a good attorney first.  

Important: Be careful dealing with anyone or business firm offering to find you startup investment if you hire them to act as front or negotiator for you, or do your business plan, or your pitch presentations and such. These are shark-infested waters.

I am aware of some legitimate providers of business plan consulting, but legitimate providers are harder to find than the sharks. Real angel investors want to deal with the startup team founders, not brokers, or finders, or consultants. Finders’ fees had a place in startup investment a few decades ago, but have become obsolete.

3. Commercial lenders

Banks are even less likely than venture capitalists to invest in, or loan money to, startup businesses. They are, however, the most likely source of financing for established small businesses.

Startup entrepreneurs and small business owners are too quick to criticize banks and financial institutions for failing to finance new businesses. Banks are not supposed to invest in businesses, and are strictly limited in this respect by federal banking laws.

The government prevents banks from investment in businesses because society, in general, doesn’t want banks taking savings from depositors and investing in risky business ventures; obviously when (and if) those business ventures fail, bank depositors’ money is at risk. Would you want your bank to invest in new businesses (other than your own, of course)?

Furthermore, banks should not loan money to startup companies either, for many of the same reasons. Federal regulators want banks to keep money safe, in very conservative loans backed by solid collateral. Startup businesses are not safe enough for bank regulators and they don’t have enough collateral.

Why then do I say that banks are the most likely source of small business financing? Because small business owners borrow from banks. A business that has been around for a few years generates enough stability and assets to serve as collateral. Banks commonly make loans to small businesses backed by the company’s inventory or accounts receivable. Normally there are formulas that determine how much can be loaned, depending on how much is in inventory and in accounts receivable.

A great deal of small business financing is accomplished through bank loans based on the business owner’s personal collateral, such as home ownership. Some would say that home equity is the greatest source of small business financing.

4. The Small Business Administration (SBA)

The SBA makes loans to small businesses and even to startup businesses. SBA loans are almost always applied for and administered by local banks. You normally deal with a local bank throughout the process of getting an SBA loan.

For startup loans, the SBA will normally require that at least one-third of the required capital be supplied by the new business owner. Furthermore, the rest of the amount must be guaranteed by reasonable business or personal assets.

The SBA works with “certified lenders,” which are banks. It takes a certified lender as little as one week to get approval from the SBA. If your own bank isn’t a certified lender, you should ask your banker to recommend a local bank that is.

Need help finding a business loan? Find available small business loan options with the Bplans Loan Finder.

5. Other lenders

Aside from standard bank loans, an established small business can also turn to accounts receivable specialists to borrow against its accounts receivables.

The most common accounts receivable financing is used to support cash flow when working capital is hung up in accounts receivable.

For example, if your business sells to distributors that take 60 days to pay, and the outstanding invoices waiting for payment (but not late) come to $100,000, your company can probably borrow more than $50,000.

Interest rates and fees may be relatively high, but this is still often a good source of small business financing. In most cases, the lender doesn’t take the risk of payment—if your customer doesn’t pay you, you have to pay the money back anyhow. These lenders will often review your debtors, and choose to finance some or all of the invoices outstanding.

Another related business practice is called factoring. So-called factors actually purchase obligations, so if a customer owes you $100,000 you can sell the related paperwork to the factor for some percentage of the total amount. In this case, the factor takes the risk of payment, so discounts are obviously quite steep. Ask your banker for additional information about factoring.

6. Friends and family funding

If I could make only one point with budding entrepreneurs, it would be that you should know what money you need, and understand that it is at risk. Know how much you are betting, and don’t bet money you can’t afford to lose.

I’ll always remember a talk I had with a man who had spent 15 years trying to make his sailboat manufacturing business work, achieving not much more than aging and more debt. “If I can tell you only one thing,” he said, “it is that you should never take money from friends and family. If you do, then you can never get out. Businesses sometimes fail, and you need to be able to close it down and walk away. I wasn’t able to do that.”

The story points out why the U.S. government securities laws discourage getting business investments from people who aren’t wealthy, sophisticated investors. They don’t fully understand how much risk there is. If your parents, siblings, good friends, cousins, and in-laws will invest in your business, they have paid you an enormous compliment. Please, in that case, make sure that you understand how easily this money can be lost, and that you make them understand as well.

Although you don’t want to rule out starting your company with investments from friends and family, don’t ignore some of the disadvantages. Go into this relationship with your eyes wide open.

Maybe, your idea and your situation is a better fit for crowdfunding—that is, creating a profile and pitching your business idea or product on a site like Kickstarter. In fact, this method of raising money has become so popular that here are dozens of crowdfunding sites to choose from, all offering different terms and benefits.

Words of warning

Sadly, financing and investment involves money; and money breeds some predatory business practices, scams and such. So here are some reminders to help you avoid the pitfalls.

• Don’t take private placement, angels, friends, and family as good sources of investment capital just because they are described here or taken seriously in some other source of information. Some investors are a good source of capital, and some aren’t. These less established sources of investment should be handled with extreme caution.
• Never, spend somebody else’s money without first doing the legal work properly. Have the papers done by professionals, and make sure they’re signed.
• Never, spend money that has been promised but not delivered. Often companies get investment commitments and contract for expenses, and then the investment falls through.
• Be aware that turning to friends and family for investment is not always a good idea. The worst possible time to not have the support of friends and family is when your business is in trouble. You risk losing friends, family, and your business at the same time.

Summary

Most businesses are financed by home equity or savings as they start—bootstrapping. Only a few high-growth startups can attract outside investment. Venture capital deals are extremely rare. Borrowing will always depend on collateral and guarantees, not on business plans or ideas. And business borrowing is normal for ongoing businesses with an established history, but not a normal option for startups.

What might be the next steps to take depends a lot on your specific business. Generally, high-tech startups might explore angel investment or friends and family first, while steady ongoing businesses should start by asking their small business banker. But always remember, your business is unique.

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Not Just Another Wallhanger: PXG Releases Limited Edition Darkness Operator Putter

You can add PXG to the list of brands taking this whole Black Friday thing a little too literally.

Just announced is a Limited Edition version of the company’s Operator Putter, and while it may be tempting to throw this one on top an ever-growing pile of paint-driven money grabs, the story here extends beyond the murdered-out look.

At first glance, the story is textbook. A new variable-sized pyramid face pattern offers gripping benefits. Rather than fall back on the industry standard promotes forward roll faster story, PXG is more general in its characterization of that particular element of performance, simply saying, “the small pyramid structures bite into the golf ball cover to create more consistent launch and roll chrematistics.” You can toss in improved sound and feel as well.

Boilerplate for sure, but in the true spirit of the holiday shopping season, I’m compelled to add the requisite, but wait, there’s more.

Indeed there is.

PXG’s escape from the wallhanger category comes via that new pyramid milling pattern. What’s notable is that the size of the pyramid milling pattern varies across the face, with the center being the most densely milled.

As with similar consistent distance technologies, what PXG is effectively doing is slowing down the middle of the face. That may sound counterintuitive, but it’s not much different than what companies do with their driver faces to stay within USGA limits while boosting speed on off-center hits. It’s really hard to boost speed on the perimeter, but if you slow down the center (where ball speeds are greatest), you can, more or less, flatline the rest of the face so that distance is nearly consistent regardless of whether you hit it duck’s nuts center, or out on the toe.

To the just learn how to putt crowd: Spare me your sanctimonious. FYI, even the best players in the world miss the sweet spot on their putters from time to time.

PXG’s technology story hasn’t been independently validated, but on paper, it has the potential to vault it into the high-tech performance putter category with Evnroll and PING.

While PXG’s claim that the Darkness Operator putter can be tailored to suit any stroke is perhaps dubious, it does offer five 1-gram sole weights. Stock, it’s 375-grams. The included weight kit allows golfers to adjust the overall head weight as well as adjust the distribution of weight to tune the closure rate. Whether that’s enough to allow the Darkness Operator to adapt to both straight back straight through, strong arc, and all strokes in-between is a matter for testing, I suppose.

The Limited Edition Darkness Operator is milled from 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum. Each is emblazoned (PXG’s word) with the Darkness skull insignia and the number 26, which represents the 26^th Marine Corps Regiment that PXG Founder, Bob Parsons, served with during the Vietnam war.

The putter comes stuck with a custom SuperStroke Darkness grip, the Darkness Weight Kit, and a uniquely numbered Darkness headcover.

Available now from PXG.com for $700.

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